2015 Land Rover Discovery Sport Previewed With Third-Row Seats

Land Rover’s LR2 is set to be replaced next year by the all-new Discovery Sport, which the British automaker has previewed today with third-row seats. The Discovery Sport will compete against other small SUVs in the premium segment such as the Audi Q5, BMW X3 and Mercedes-Benz GLK-Class, and should arrive as a 2015 model.

The new Discovery Sport rides on the same LR-MS platform underpinning the Range Rover Evoque and in the U.S. is likely to be available only with two rows of seats. We’ll have to wait until a stretched version is launched to have access to a Discovery Sport with more than five seats.

The vehicles will be part of a new ‘Discovery’ family that will feature the current LR4 at the top of the range and a compact crossover, possibly dubbed the Landy, at the bottom.

Prototypes for the new Discovery Sport are now in the final stage of development and we should be seeing the covers finally come off later in the year, most likely at the 2014 Paris Auto Show in October. Production will take place at Jaguar Land Rover’s Halewood plant in the U.K., the same site responsible for the Range Rover Evoque.

For more on the new Discovery Sport, including additional photos and video of prototypes, click here.